SWIFT CURRENT, SK – A new organizing committee is hoping to attract an even larger group of former players to the WW Smith Insurance Swift Current Bronco Alumni Golf Classic at Elmwood this July.

“We’re looking to step outside of what we would traditionally look at as a golf tournament and build this thing to more of an event,” said former Bronco Jeremy Rondeau. “An event for your alumni coming back to the city, for the city, for the team, a real celebration of Bronco past.”

Over twenty alumni have committed to the event; from all-time franchise leading scorer Todd Holt to former Bronco and current competitive long driver Houston Hair.

WW Smith, the SGI broker in Swift Current, has signed a two year deal as title sponsor of the Classic.

“We feel the Broncos are very important to the city,” said Chuck Audette of WW Smith. “As a business that has been around 100 years… it’s an event we want to show our support for and also provide a great event for the citizens and participants.”

A committee headed by Jeremy and Kristin Rondeau has taken over operations of the Classic from Wellington West.

“We’ve tried to come up with a tournament format that would build off of what they’ve done to this point and take it to that next level,” said Jeremy. “We’re looking to step outside of what we would traditionally look at as a golf tournament and build this thing into an event… a real celebration of Bronco past.”

It has expanded from a one-day event on a Friday to a multi-round experience. On Friday, July 13th Elmwood Golf and Country Club will host a practice round exclusively for alumni and high level sponsors. The regular “classic” itself would follow on Saturday, July 14th.

“We are trying to create a lead up to the tournament by trying to give our sponsors a really good opportunity to connect with the alumni and the team,” Rondeau said.

Organizers are hoping to reach out to a larger group of alumni by embracing social media. They have set up a Facebook group (Bronco Alumni Golf Tourny) with the intention of connection to former players that haven’t traditionally been part of the event.

For WW Smith it’s an opportunity to mark their 100th anniversary next year by supporting an event that brings together major parts of the city’s history.

“I really enjoy when we get feedback (from) some of the kids that have lived here 10 to 25 years ago who were a part of the Bronco organization,” Audette said. “They developed here, they came here when they were 16, 17, 18 years old… we’re always interested in where they ended up. It’s nice to see them come back and re-connect.”

The committee is currently in the process of attracting new sponsorship and working on plans for the tournament. Previous participants and sponsors will have the first crack at spots in the tournament before they are available to the general public.